About a week ago we took an impromptu day trip to the little mountain town of Bisbee, Arizona, about a 3.5 hours drive from the Phoenix metropolis. It's a mining town situated just north of the Mexican border, in beautiful high altitude setting. We had our eyes set on visiting Dave's Electric Brewery, first and foremost, and planned on an urban hike around town only after having a few beers in the town where they're made (Dave's Electric now has an outpost in Tempe, near ASU).
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| Old Bisbee Brewing - Tap House on Left, Brew House on Right |
We pulled into Old Bisbee with its beautiful architecture and eccentric style, and driving down a very narrow road our first sight was the Old Bisbee Brewery - we hopped out of the cars and Victor, the co-owner and one of the brew masters quickly noticed our enthusiasm and gave us the grand tour. State of the art equipment and a quaint tap house where the guests settle in next to the stainless steel holding tanks proved our day was off to a great start. The best thing? We didn't even know Old Bisbee Brewery existed! What a delightful surprise. We had the sampler of course, and then moved on to an IPA and the Mountain Lime Hefe, which was refreshing and impressive.
After the Brew pub we walked around this awesome town, up and down hills, past some very interesting establishments and city art, including the bark park, a painted car, and property walls full of decorative glass...like this here keg.
Then we stopped by St. Elmo's, a local dive bar where the keep didn't seem too fond of tourists, but a Stella is a Stella no matter where you go. The decor shouted of the olden days, and despite our rude host, we enjoyed the glimpse into the past (and present) of this great town.
We decided to go in search of Dave's Electric tap house. Well, we drove and drove, and asked and asked, and eventually we found the brewery. Unfortunately, the tap house closed a year or so ago. Almost in despair we moaned a bit about what to do, and decided to mozey on down to the VFW (Veteran's of Foreign Wars) to see what it was about. With perfect synchronicity we met Frank, the Chief Commander of the Bisbee VFW, who unlocked the door and opened the cooler to our hearts.
Frank is awesome. He runs a great bar that hosts parties and recitals, and the VFW serves all the men and women who serve our country. Ryan signed up for a membership and we got to meet some of the folks who help run the place. They were welcoming, friendly, and kept the juke box full of credits. 5 Budlights later we found our way back to Old Bisbee where we decided we just couldn't yet leave, and got a room at the Hotel le Mor. Thank you Rocky!
As evening settled and storm clouds formed, we found another local dive under a hotel, and unfortunately I can't remember the name. Here we finally had some Dave's Electric, and after telling our bartender of our search for the DE tap house, she told us Electric Dave was indeed sitting just several stools down the bar from us. We had a brief chat, and realizing he wasn't crazy about tourists either, we went back to our seats and talked to our new philosopher friend. We got some thunder and lightning and a few sprinkles, then headed back to seedy St. Elmo's for the much loved PBR and interesting entertainment.
All in all, Bisbee is a great place for beer - whether it's micro or macro you prefer. It's also a great place for people to meet, to enjoy each other, and to have deep conversations about life and love, while sitting in a city park with a cold one in your hand at 2am.
If you like mountains, Earth tones, brew pubs, heroes, and eccentricity, Bisbee is a place high on our list for a day trip or a week long vacation.
